When women’s basketball head coach Kelly Graves arrived at Oregon, he heard from people around Eugene that the Washington game was one he should circle on the schedule.
The Ducks and Huskies have developed a deep rivalry. But this year and next season, the two programs play just once, due to the Pac-12’s scheduling rotation.
Graves sees the Pac-12 rotation as unfortunate for fans.
“My personal opinion is that you should play the schools in your region twice,” Graves said. “Women’s basketball — it still doesn’t draw that well. I think anything that can help bring attention and fans is good for us.”
Washington head coach Mike Neighbors agrees with Graves.
“I do think there’s value in the Washingtons playing the Oregons every year,” Neighbors said. “It would be something that I would certainly throw my support behind and at least explore.”
The scheduling rotation was first implemented when Utah and Colorado joined the Pac-12 in 2011. The conference created a cycle to ensure a fair and balanced schedule, said Pac-12 Associate Commissioner Chris Dawson, who oversees women’s basketball. That means 12 teams have just 18 games, so something had to give.
“It was laid out randomly by the computer programmer at the beginning,” Dawson said. “The fact that Oregon and Washington play only once is part of a larger cycle.”
The conference has mapped out Pac-12 games through the 2020-2021 season to keep fairness a keystone of scheduling.
The rotation has the Bay Area schools playing the Los Angeles schools — considered a “regional rivalry” — just once this year and next. This year, Cal and UCLA scheduled a nonconference game to make up for the lost game.
Dawson said the Arizona schools don’t have a clear “regional rivalry” in Utah or Colorado, which complicates the scheduling factors.
“From a balance perspective, it wouldn’t make sense to me or our administrators to carve out two groups and have the other ones more on an island,” Dawson said.
Graves said he sees both sides of the argument. He was hired in 2014, and like Neighbors, wasn’t a head coach during the initial scheduling process.
“I think you deny the fans something, but I get it,” Graves said. “I understand it. It’s their way of being fair.”
Neighbors said the rotation often hurts attendance because Washington generally draws more fans to rivalry games.
“It’s unfortunate that it does fall this year,” Neighbors said. “I think the two teams — Oregon and Oregon State — we’ve gotten to have a good rivalry with them. We certainly miss it, but we understand the way it is too.”
The Huskies have won four of the last five games against the Ducks, including a win in 2014 that eliminated the Ducks from the Women’s National Invitation Tournament. Washington State and Oregon split the regular season series in 2015, but the Cougars have eliminated Oregon from the Pac-12 Tournament for two straight years.
Next season, it will be Washington fans who won’t have an opportunity to see Oregon or Oregon State in Seattle. Graves hopes the schedule could be reconsidered.
“At the next opportunity, I might suggest it,” Graves said. “I think it’s at least a point worth revisiting.”
Follow Jonathan Hawthorne on Twitter @Jon_Hawthorne
